Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United’s plans to host a friendly in Australia immediately after the Premier League season may be scuppered by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

The Premier League clubs have scheduled a match in Melbourne on 22nd May, under than a week after the end of the season. Both teams have signalled an interest to bring along their most notable international players, despite looming major competitions.

Several of the players are expected to play in the Euros, commencing early-June in Germany. Whiile players like Richarlison and Joelinton might well participate in Copa America during the summer months.

Given these circumstances, various figures in football are unhappy with this 21,000-mile round trip, forcing the PFA to step in, reports the Daily Mail (via the Mirror). The PFA has been constantly advocating for fewer games to reduce player fatigue, a stark contrast to planning a one-off extra match in Australia.

England manager Gareth Southgate accepts that the friendly isn’t the best preparation for his players. He said: “It (end-of-season friendlies) is going to happen more and more. Why? Financial fair play means clubs need to generate their own money, so we’re in a bizarre world where there’s more money in the game than ever before, and yet everyone is scrambling across federations and clubs to generate more.

“The normal way of doing that is to play more games – so is that great news for us, in terms of preparation? No. But we’re going to have players in the FA Cup final (May 25) probably, the Champions League final (June 1) hopefully and a chance of a few other European finals, so we are used to preparing this way. We had to go to Qatar with five days prep, so we adjust to whatever it is and hope there are no injuries from that game (in Australia).”